Research and Innovation in Food Science and Technology

Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The ethical policy of Research and Innovation in Food Science and Technology (JRIFST) is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and complies with International Committee of journal Editorial Board codes of conduct. Readers, authors, reviewers and editors should follow these ethical policies once working with journal.  For information on this matter in publishing and ethical guidelines please visit http://publicationethics.org.

 

General Policies

  • The publishing decision is based on the suggestion of the journal's reviewers and editorial board members. 
  • The ethical policy insisted the Editor-in-Chief, may confer with other editors or reviewers in making the decision. 
  • The reviewers are necessary to evaluate the research papers based on the submitted content in confidential manner. 
  • The reviewers also suggest the authors to improve the quality of research paper by their reviewing comments. 
  • Authors should ensure that their submitted research work is original and has not been published elsewhere in any language.
  • Applicable copyright laws and conventions should be followed by the authors.
  • Any kind of plagiarism constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.  
  • For the sustainability and development of the specialized review process, qualified authors are invited to participate in the review process of other articles in this journal.

 

Obligations and responsibilities

Publisher responsibilities
  • publisher should ensure that editorial decisions on manuscript submissions are final and are only made based on professional judgment and will not be affected by any commercial interests.
  • publisher should monitor the ethics of Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Editorial Board Members, Reviewers, Authors, and Readers.
  • publisher is always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, and retractions involving its publications as and when needed.
Editorial responsibilities

(https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_1.pdf)

  • The editorial team should have the full authority to reject/accept a manuscript.
  • The editorial team should maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts under review or until they are published.
  • The editorial team should preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
  • Any conflicts of interest should be declared and attempted to be prevented by the editorial team.
  • The editorial team should be willing to investigate plagiarism and fraudulent data issues and willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.
  • The editorial team must maintain the confidentiality of the content of the submitted articles until their publication.

 

Reviewers’ responsibilities  

(https://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/Peer%20review%20guidelines.pdf)

  • Confidentiality of article information must be observed in all areas. The article review process is to be done anonymously.
  • Reviewers should judge articles at the appropriate time and assist the editorial team in deciding whether or not to accept the article.
  • The referees' suggestions regarding the published articles should be submitted in the form of judging forms and in the comment section for the author and editor.
  • Reviewers should refrain from judging articles with conflict of interest and report any conflict of interest as soon as possible.
  • Reviewers' judgments about the quality and content of articles should be based on professional and objective opinions.
Authorship Criteria

The contributors should fulfill the following three requirements to guarantee authorship for the manuscripts they submit:

  • The author has done the conception and design, data collection, data analysis, and data interpretation.
  • The author has either written the article from scratch or critically revised it for significant intellectual value.
  • The final approval of the version to be published has been given by the author. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to be allowed to take public responsibility for suitable portions of the content.

 

 Authorship and Author’s Responsibility

(https://publicationethics.org/files/u7141/1999pdf13.pdf)

  • The corresponding author is typically in charge of communicating with the journal and making sure that all of the administrative requirements of the journal, such as authorship information, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and conflict of interest statements, are correctly completed. This is true throughout the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication processes.
  • After an article has been accepted for publication in the JRIFST, no additional authors or changes to the first or corresponding authors are allowed. If an author wishes to be removed from the byline, he or she must submit a letter signed by the author and all other authors indicating their wish to be removed from the list of authors. Any change in the authors' order in the byline requires a letter signed by all authors indicating their agreement.
  • It is necessary to observe the basic principles of writing and research in writing articles, and articles should be written and arranged according to the format of the journal.
  • Before submitting an article, all authors should read the authors' guide and the terms and conditions of submitting an article in this journal.
  • The corresponding author must use the authors' commitment form to confirm and submit the details of other co-authors of the paper in this publication.
  • All authors whose names are mentioned in the article and in the commitment form must participate in writing and compiling the article.
  • Appreciation and organizational affiliation of authors should be mentioned in the article and any conflicts of interest between authors or organizations should be mentioned.
  • Authors should clearly report the sponsor of the research (if any).
  • Authors have a duty to notify the editor as soon as possible if they find a mistake or incorrection in their published article to correct or revoke the article.
  • All authors should be aware that articles submitted to this journal are reviewed by a similarity check software to prevent scientific misconduct.
  • Authors should cite correctly and appropriately all the sources they have used, both directly and indirectly.

 

 Human and animal studies

All manuscripts reporting the results of experimental investigations involving human subjects should include a statement confirming the informed consent was obtained from each subject or subject’s guardian. All animal or human studies should be used after approval of the experimental protocol by a local ethics committee.

Allegations of misconduct

  • Data Fabrication and Falsification

Data fabrication and falsification means the researcher did not really carry out the study, but made-up data or results and had recorded or reported the fabricated information. Data falsification means the researcher did the experiment, but manipulated, changed, or omitted data or results from the research findings.

  • Duplicate Publication

Duplicate publication occurs when two or more papers, without full cross referencing, share essentially the same hypotheses, data, discussion points, and conclusions. 

  • Citation Manipulation

Excessive citations in a submitted manuscript that do not contribute to the scholarly content of the article and were included solely to increase citations to a given author's work or articles published in a particular journal are referred to as citation manipulation. This is a form of scientific misconduct since it misrepresents the importance of the specific work and publication in which it appears.

  • Simultaneous Submission

Simultaneous submission occurs when a manuscript (or substantial sections from a manuscript) is submitted to a journal when it is already under consideration by another journal.

  • Redundant Publications

Redundant publications involve the inappropriate division of study outcomes into several articles, most often consequent to the desire to plump academic vitae.

  • Improper Author Contribution or Attribution

All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript and approved all its claims. Don’t forget to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution, including students and laboratory technicians.

  • Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the deliberate use of another person's words, ideas, or other creative content as one's own. Plagiarism is defined by JRIFST Journal as the act of using verbatim text from another person's or your own previously published work without providing appropriate citation. All manuscripts that are being reviewed or published with WHR must pass a plagiarism check using the program iThenticate. Plagiarism is a major breach of publication ethics, as a result. Before submitting their work, the authors are expected to examine it for plagiarism.

The manuscript may be rejected if plagiarism is found during peer review. We reserve the right, if required, to retract the article or offer a correction if post-publication plagiarism is found. If plagiarism was discovered before or after publication, we reserve the right to inform the institutions of the writers.

 

The Principles of Transparency in JRIFST Journal

  • Study design and ethical approval

Good research should be well justified, well planned, appropriately designed, and ethically approved. To conduct research to a lower standard may constitute misconduct. The authors are responsible for the whole scientific content as well as the accuracy of the bibliographic information (https://creativecommons.org/choose/).

 

  • Data analysis

Data should be appropriately analyzed, but inappropriate analysis does not necessarily amount to misconduct. Fabrication and falsification of data do constitute misconduct.

 

  • Conflicts of interest
    • Conflicts of interest comprise those which may not be fully apparent and which may influence the judgment of author, reviewers, and editors. They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived. They may be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial. “Financial” interests may include employment, research funding, stock or share ownership, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies and company support for staff.
    • The authors of this journal are obliged to declare any conflict of interest at the time of submitting the manuscript. Any conflicts of interest between authors or organizations, as well as author appreciation and organizational affiliation, should be acknowledged in the article.

 

  • Peer-review
    • This journal uses Double blind peer review, which  is a conventional method of peer review where the authors do not know who the reviewers are. However, the reviewers know who the authors are.
    • Authors have the right to communicate to the editor if they do not wish their manuscript to be reviewed by a particular reviewer because of potential conflicts of interest.
    • All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo anonymous peer review at least by 3 referees (Double blind peer review). This process, as well as any policies related to the journal’s peer review procedures, is clearly described on the journal’s Web site (https://journals.rifst.ac.ir/journal/process?lang=en).

 

  • Archiving
    • The plan for electronic backup and preservation of access to journal's content (https://jwhr.birjand.ac.ir/) is clearly indicated. This policy sets out the ways in which the authors of JRIFST can archive copies of their work on their own web pages, corporate web pages, and various other subject repositories. 
    • JRIFST is an open access license, articles can be made available immediately according to the terms of their specific Creative Common license. If an author has published an article under an Open Access license, JRIFST would encourage author to share the Version of Record on publication as opposed to the Accepted Manuscript.
    • Authors may also reuse the Abstract and Citation information (e.g. Title, Author name, Publication dates) of their article anywhere at any time including social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs and Twitter, providing that where possible a link is included back to the article on the JRIFST site. Preferably the link should be, or include, the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which can be found in the Citation information about the article online. The accepted version may be placed on: the author's personal website and/or the author's company/institutional repository or archive. Self-archiving of the submitted version is not subject to an embargo period.
    • JRIFST is now formally archived at the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI).

 

  • Publishing schedule

JRIFST is published 4 issues per year (Quarterly). All the content from the beginning to the end will be available for ever on JRIFST exclusive website (https://journals.rifst.ac.ir/?lang=en). 

 

  • Privacy and Confidentiality
    • Authors entrust editors with the results of their scientific work and creative effort when they submit manuscripts for review, so All manuscripts must be reviewed with the utmost regard for the authors' confidentiality. Editors must clarify to reviewers that manuscripts sent for review are privileged communications and the authors' private property. As a result, reviewers and editorial staff must respect the authors' rights by refraining from publicly discussing or appropriating the authors' work before the manuscript is published.
    • Reviewers have the right to confidentiality, which the editor must respect. If there is a suspicion of dishonesty or fraud, confidentiality may have to be breached, but it must be honored otherwise.
    • Reviewers should not be allowed to make copies of the manuscript for their files, and they should not be allowed to share it with others except if the editor permits them.
    • Besides the authors and reviewers, editors are prohibited from disclosing information about manuscripts (including their receipt, content, status in the reviewing process, reviewer criticism, or ultimate fate). Requests to use the materials in legal proceedings are included in this category.
    • Editors should not keep copies of manuscripts that have been rejected. Without the permission of the reviewer, author, and editor, reviewer comments should not be published or otherwise made public.

 

  • Ownership and management

Research Institute of Food Science and Technology

 

  • Copyright and Licensing

On the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge, this journal provides immediate open access to its content.

All journal papers are released under the  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, sharing, adaption, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as the original author(s) and source are properly credited. The authors, having received "Certificate of Acceptance", sign a "Consent Form" through which they transfer all the rights for publication (copyright) to the publisher i.e. all the rights regarding the article published is reserved for the Institute of Food Science and Technology.

 

  • Advertising

The policy of the journal is not to have advertising.

 

  • Corrections and retractions

Journals may need to issue corrections or retractions of papers they have previously published in order to preserve the integrity of academic records. As per accepted academic community standards, corrections or corrections of published articles are done by publishing an Erratum or Retraction article, without changing the original article in any other way than by adding a prominent connection to the Erratum/Retraction article. The original article is still in the public domain and should typically be indexed to the retracted or corrected version. In the unlikely event that the material is deemed to violate those rights or is defamatory, we may be required to remove it from our website and archive sites.

 

  • Corrections

Changes to published articles that affect the article's meaning and conclusion but do not invalidate the article in its entirety may be corrected, at the discretion of the editor(s), by publishing an Erratum indexed and linked to the original article. Changes in authorship of published articles are corrected through an Erratum.

 

  •  Retractions

If the scientific information in an article is significantly compromised on rare occasions it may be appropriate to retract published articles. In these cases, Journal must comply with the COPE guidelines. Retracted papers are indexed and the original article is referred to.

 

Process for identification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct

If violations against publishing and research ethics have occurred in this journal, Editor-in-Chief takes reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, among others.

  • The first action of the journal Editor is to inform the Editorial Office of JRIFST by supplying copies of the relevant material and a draft letter to the corresponding author asking for an explanation in a nonjudgmental manner.
  • If the author’s explanation is unacceptable and it seems that serious unethical conduct has taken place, the matter is referred to the Publication Committee via Editorial Office.  After deliberation, the Committee will decide whether the case is sufficiently serious to warrant a ban on future submissions. 
  • If the infraction is less severe, the Editor, upon the advice of the Publication Committee, sends the author a letter of reprimand and reminds the author of JRIFST publication policies; if the manuscript has been published, the Editor may request the author to publish an apology in the journal to correct the record.
  • Notification will be sent to corresponding author and any work by the author responsible for the violation or any work these persons coauthored that is under review by JRIFST journal will be rejected immediately.
  • The authors are prohibited from serving on JRIFST editorial board and serving as a reviewer for JRIFST Journal. JRIFST reserves the right to take more actions.
  • In serious cases of fraud that result in retraction of the article, a retraction notice will be published in the journal and will be linked to the article in the online version. The online version will also be marked “retracted” with the retraction date.

Complaints and Appeals Proccess 

JRIFST welcomes genuine appeals to editor decisions. However, you will need to provide strong evidence or new data/information in response to the editor’s and reviewers’ comments. Editors don’t expect frequent appeals and they rarely reverse their original decisions. Therefore, if you receive a decision to reject your manuscript, you are strongly advised to submit to another journal. The final decisions of the Editorial Board are based on the opinions of the reviewers and their unbiased judgment and are therefore usually irrevocable. However, if you have a complaint about the final decision of the publication and think that there is a case for appeal, follow the following process:

  • Provide your reasonable and acceptable reasons and explain why you do not agree with this decision.
  • Provide any information or new data that you want to be considered in the review process to the editors of the publication.
  • If you believe that the reviewers made a mistake in evaluating your paper, provide reasons and acceptable documentation.
  • If you think there was a conflict of interest in the arbitration process, provide your evidence.

The editors accept only one appeal per article. After receiving the appeal, the editors may involve the referees and editors who have evaluated the manuscript. The decisions of the editors and editorial board regarding appeals are final and may include rejection of the manuscript, request for further peer review, or request to submit a revised version of the manuscript.

COPE’s Guidelines & Flowcharts 

JRIFST  is committed to follow and apply guidelines and flowcharts of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in its reviewing and publishing process and issues. For more information on COPE’s Guidelines & Flowcharts please see:

 (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts-new/translations). 

COPE’s Code of Conduct and Best Practices for Editors

(https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf)

(https://publicationethics.org/files/2008%20Code%20of%20Conduct.pdf)